Tercüman-i Hakikat, published between 1978-1921, was the longest running daily paper in the history of the Ottoman Empire, and Ahmet Midhat Efendi—its owner-editor till his death in 1912-- was an influential popularizer and disseminator of all sorts of materials, from theories of political economy to language reform to Darwinism. At the same time, he was a defender of Muslim beliefs and an advocate of the importance of religion in the creation and maintenance of the good society. All these activities earned him the sobriquet “First Teacher” in his day. This paper examines how Ahmet Midhat Efendi, through proscriptive works, apologia, and works of fiction, outlined in the pages of Terüman-i Hakikat the correct way to interpret and live out Islam while embracing what he viewed as economic, social, and technological “progress.” Despite not belonging to the ulema or having had high-level religious education, Ahmet Midhat unabashedly engage in religious discussion and debate in dozens of articles and hundreds of pages over the years, articulating a vision of a modern faith that was highly influential.